UK riots inquiry panel named by Nick Clegg

Deputy PM announces team to look into causes of August riots, led by chair Darra Singh, chief executive of Jobcentre Plus

Darra Singh chief executive of Job Centre Plus, will chair the panel named Nick Clegg which will by lead the inquiry into the August riots. Photograph: Martin Godwin for the Guardian Martin Godwin/Guardian

Nick Clegg has named the "grassroots" panel that will lead an inquiry into the causes of this summer's riots, setting a November deadline for them to deliver their first verdict.

Darra Singh, the chief executive of Jobcentre Plus and former chief executive of Ealing and Luton councils, will chair the panel, which will also include Simon Marcus, the founder of the Boxing Academy in London, Baroness Sherlock, previously chief executive of the National Council for One Parent Families, and Heather Rabbatts, a former barrister.

Rabbatts went on to become Britain's youngest ever chief executive of a council, Lambeth, and then to senior positions in organisations as diverse as the Bank of England, the Royal Opera House and Millwall Football club.

Clegg, during a visit to Tottenham where the first riots began earlier this month, said that a proper analysis of the causes of the outbreaks of violence and looting across the country was essential. "The August riots were on a scale that many people have never seen in this country. I saw devastating scenes of burned out shops and houses in neighbourhoods around the country. I met traumatised families who no longer had homes," he said.

"Only by listening to people who have been affected by the riots – the victims – will we ever be able to move on and rebuild for the long term. This is not just about individuals, but entire communities. These victims, who stood side by side and refused to be beaten by the senseless destruction, hold the key to how residents, shopkeepers, parents, young people and communities can move on."

The government agreed to the inquiry under pressure from the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, amid a rush of government suggestions of how to deal with the riots including social media shutdowns, benefit withdrawals for offenders and a promise of "zero-tolerance" from the prime minister.

Labour accused the Tory leadership of "knee-jerk" reactions and it later emerged that Clegg had been pushing ministers behind the scenes for an inquiry. It will not, however, be a full public inquiry, as Labour initially argued for, which would have been judge-led and operated under the Inquiries Act with powers to call witnesses. It will report to all three leaders of the parties publishing interim findings in November and a final analysis next March.

Miliband said: "We must never excuse or justify the behaviour we saw in the riots. But we owe it to the communities affected to listen to them about why it happened and look at the deeper causes of the criminal behaviour. The temptation for politicians is to reach for simplistic solutions to the issues we face as a society."

Singh previously chaired a commission for integration and cohesion panel for Labour in 2006. Trained as a lawyer he worked in housing advice and went on to run housing authorities then local authorities, before moving to Jobcentre Plus.

Singh said: "This is an important opportunity. I think it is vital that we hear straight from individuals and communities that have been affected directly and indirectly by the riots. Along with the other panel members, I am looking forward to hearing their views on the causes and their ideas on how similar events can be prevented in future."

The panel has been asked to investigate six areas:

• Why people took part in riots.

• Why the riots happened in some areas and not others.

• How key public services engaged with communities before, during and after the riots.

• What motivated local people to come together to take civic action to resist riots in their area or to clean up after riots had taken place.

• How communities can be made more socially and economically resilient in the future, in order to prevent future problems.

• What they think could have been done differently to prevent or manage the riots.